Have you ever wished you could talk to your pets like you would a person? Have you ever wondered what was wrong with one of your beloved animals, and said, "If only they could talk!" Have you ever had a thought pop into your head, that was related to your nearby pet, while you were busy doing chores? If you've answered "Yes" to any of these questions, you're A) normal and B) not alone!

I began my journey into animal communication several years ago, when Fred and I attended an awards banquet held by our local dressage club. The guest speaker was a woman named Dawn Heyman, from New York. She was fascinating, and talked of her life as an animal communicator, but most of the audience thought of her more as humorous entertainment. Fred and I were open minded, and I kept her card.

A few months later, we decided to give this strange idea a shot, and we called Dawn for an appointment. We had to "take a number", as Dawn was incredibly busy. I was to call her a few days later, at a specific time. The results of that phone call changed our lives, and mine especially, because we learned that animal communication is real, and it works! Who'd have thought?

Dawn talked to our horses, all five of them, and they told us where they hurt, how they felt about life with us, and one even quoted a student of mine - verbatum! The next day our vet came out, as planned before the phone call, and absolutely verified all of the major discomfort issues the horses had mentioned. Fred's mare had told us her side hurt . . . and the vet found she had a rib out of alignment. Another horse said he hated coming onto the vertical with his head, and it turned out his teeth needed clipping - they had grown "up-hill" badly. These findings, along with other fascinating things the horses had said, really made Fred and I think. We were convinced, and excited!

We called Dawn in New York once or twice more, when there were things we wanted to know from the horses, or other pets. We calmly believed in her, and the whole process, even though it seemed too good to be true. She just kept getting astonishing results, and we just kept being totally impressed.

Then last August, we were away with our two Andalusians at the show in Lexington. The two Thoroughbreds were home, and under the care of a trusted friend. When we returned, I was horrified to discover a gate off it's hinges, and tied with baling string, the mare cut up a little under her tail, and biten on her side.

I immediately began questioning the neighbors, all the while panicing, because four years earlier, our mare had been one of those who had been attacked with a butcher knife by a stranger who was never caught. I was racked with fear and anxiety, and found out that our mare had broken the gate down, and escaped the barn, run up our driveway and into our backyard. The neighbors had helped to bring things under control, and for that I was grateful.

In my emotional upheaval, I tried in vain to get hold of Dawn. I needed to know exactly what had happened, and why. I found a site on the Internet that listed animal communicators, and one was close by - in Pennsylvania. My phone call to Anita Curtis was to set the stage for the rest of my life's direction.

Anita spoke to our mare, and asked her what I told her to: who was it that had been there the day she had "broken out"? I wanted a description . . . and I got one.

The man was older, balding with grey hair, had a slight "paunch", and a curious hook to his nose. Anita could see him clear as day, and described him to me in great detail. As she did, my horror turned into shock, as she was describing perfectly my next door neighbor! I asked in disbelief, "Was this the man who hurt Favor?" Anita paused a moment, and then said, "No. This man HELPED Favor. He was kind to her."

I breathed a heavy sigh of relief, then turned to the next question: what exactly had happened? Why had Favor broken the gate down? Anita said, "Oh, that's easy. The big chestnut had been trying to mount Favor, and had her pinned up against the gate. He was being real nasty, and bit her and just kept harrassing her. Finally she happened to lift the gate off it's hinges, by trying to jump it from close up, and it came down with a crash. She ran up the driveway, away from the other horse."

Well, now I knew this to be true. My gelding is, in fact, quite pushy with Favor when her protector, Paco, isn't home. She had come into season while we were gone, and Island had decided to "play while the cat was away." I called my neighbor (with the hook nose) after hanging up with Anita, and he told me he had followed Favor up the driveway with a can of grain, and she had stood calmly while he unlatched the backyard gate, letting her back into the safety of the pasture!

I was so rocked by this experience, and so moved by the implications of it, that I told Fred I wanted to learn to talk to animals. Dawn and Anita had both said it wasn't hard, and anyone could learn to do it. I didn't quite believe them, but knew in my heart that my love for animals would lead to learning to talk to them. I arranged to attend a workshop Anita was giving, a few weeks later, and I read her book, "Animal Wisdom", in the interim. I read anything I could get my hands on, even books about meditation, which I later discovered wasn't necessary.

The workshop taught the participants how we could simply "dust off the wiring" we're all born with, and re-discover our ability to communicate telepathically. It was a fabulous three days, and I was invited by Anita to stay with her - which gave me the deeper details about the spiritual side of communicating with animals. I knew this was what I had longed for . . . and I turned out to be especially gifted at it!

In the fifteen or so years since then, I have spoken to hundreds of animals, ranging from zoo animals to house pets, to a horse in Japan! I've dealt with lost animals, deceased animals, and animals who knew more about their owner's psyche than the owners did! I can feel the animal's pain, know the animal's emotions about various aspects of their life, and help the owner to find their own answers, with the help of their beloved pets.

I want only to help the animals, and their owners. I donate my services to a rescue farm down the road from us, and talking to the abused horses is heartbreaking, but cleansing. I will not charge any vet who calls, because they do so only to assist with an animal's pain and health problems. Because of my other life obligations, though, I do charge $20 for every 15 minutes' worth of communicating. I haven't the time to take phonecalls all day long, so I book specific times for them, mostly during the morning and early afternoon. I make appointments, then am spiritually ready when the client actually calls to talk to their pet.

If you're not laughing at this story by now, and are curious or fascinated about telepathic communication, give me a call. I can point you in the direction of other sources of information, as well as make an appointment for you and your animals to talk to eachother, through me. You can learn to do this yourself, and some of you may have already experienced such things. It's a fabulous way to be truly in touch with what your animals like and dislike, and I use it in my training of our horses. It's also a wonderful way to open up those spiritual doors in your heart . . . the ones where love and truth are living . . . and the ability to talk to animals.